


brittle bones and brittle hearts

by Altered_Karma



Category: Danny Phantom, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Do not repost, Gen, I saw some art on tumblr and was INSPIRED, but could be read as romantic if you squint, do not copy to another site, gen - Freeform, he just did okay?, idk why deku jumped out of a plane, listen i haven't written for DP or watched it for at least a decade now, platonic, so I fudged some stuff, this takes place on their way to the conference from the movie
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 17:10:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,139
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19445905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Altered_Karma/pseuds/Altered_Karma
Summary: Danny meets a strange teenager in the woods, and hears something that he's needed to hear.Inspired by @midnights-insomniac-bloom's piece on Tumblr





	brittle bones and brittle hearts

**Author's Note:**

> I saw this piece and was so inspired by @midnights-insomniac-bloom's comic on Tumblr, with this caption: "Imagine Izuku being the first stranger in a long time that didn’t make Danny second guess himself and actually believe he was doing some good for once."  
> https://midnights-insomniac-bloom.tumblr.com/post/182070586899/imagine-izuku-being-the-first-stranger-in-a-long  
> that I ended up writing a fic. Enjoy!
> 
> Tumblr: [altered-karma](https://altered-karma.tumblr.com)

It takes thirty minutes flying at his darn-near top speed for Danny to reach the site of the crater that had landed outside of Amity Park. Thirty minutes of dodging, weaving, and ducking every blast that the ghost hunters and ghosts – all of them curious and heading for the crater as well – sent his way. It’s nothing short of an all out melee, but then maybe that’s why the he’s the only one who sees it.

Standing at the lip of the small crater, Danny figures he could fit maybe four bedrooms in it, is a smallish figure dressed in green. The boy, Danny sees as he draws up to the edge, is pulling back his right arm.

“Chicago SMASH!” Danny has just enough presence of mind to shift into intangibility before an absolutely tremendous amount of forceful wind knocks every single other ghost clear out of the Park.

The humans down below escape by virtue of being on the ground, but all of them are staring agog at the young teen that had knocked almost all of their opponents out of the air. Valerie, just below him and with her gun levelled at his figure, nearly drops her weapon in shock; Danny can just picture her slack jaw.

Still, even though the guy doesn’t look like a ghost, drawing that sort of attention is a one-way ticket to harassment by the living and dead alike, so with a sigh he resumes tangibility and starts waving to draw attention. “Hey, thanks green man! For getting all the attention off of me!” Which naturally puts every hostile eye back on him, aaaaaand the guns are back.

“Phantom!!!”

Danny spends the next while ducking and weaving, every now and again trying to keep an eye on the monstrously strong teenager. Danny has no idea what he’s doing here, what his motives are, or even if he just accidently missed the living the first time around. But, no, the dude is ducking and weaving expertly through the treetops, not making any aggressive moves towards the humans. Nor, to his shock, as it becomes clear that the green guy is simply following the chaos, does he appear to mean _Danny_ any harm which… is a first for the Phantom.

Having lost the cars back with the end of the dirt roads, it only takes little more weaving and clipping through trees to duck Valerie, and it doesn’t appear as though anyone has clued in to the fact that Greenie hasn’t lost him once. Maybe if they were smarter, they’d follow him straight to Danny, but they seem to have disregarded his presence.

 _Or_ , as Danny takes a death-breather on a branch and watches Greenie slowly approach, not a sweat or panting breath to be seen, _they simply didn’t know he’d been there at all_.

The guy, East Asian by the look of him, is staring up at him with bright, round eyes and a look of- is that awe? Since when does anyone look at Danny Phantom in awe?

But nope, he’s definitely smiling, a happy, friendly smile that immediately has Danny’s hackles falling to the wayside.

“Wow!” Greenie’s voice calls, in moderately accented English. “You were so incredible! You’re absolutely amazing!”

Now Danny really has to do a double-take. “I- wha?” Danny’s cheeks begin cooling down; he hopes he isn’t looking too green. That’d be stealing the other guy’s schtick.

Greenie nods furiously, and then, as though it were nothing, ignites in green lightning and hops into a tree branch not far off from Danny’s own perch. “Yeah! I was watching you before I blew all those other guys away, but they were all targeting you, correct? And you dodged them all! And you didn’t hurt any of the people, or, or, or! Just, wow.” He pulls out a pen and worn notebook from the pack on his back. “I’m Deku, a pro hero in training. You have to be too, right?”

“Deku?” Danny feels like he’s lost what little control of the conversation he had, if he ever had any at all. But Deku only nods and smiles encouragingly. “I’m uh, Fanny Dantom- I mean, Fanton Denny, err.” He coughs. “Danny Phantom. And I’m kind of, this town’s only real defense against the ghosts?”

Somehow, Deku’s eyes seem to grow even rounder. He seems speechless, for a moment. Then, his voice tumbles out of him, as though he’s afraid Danny is going to disappear. “Were those flying figures ghosts? Are you not a pro-hero? Why aren’t there any other heroes in the area to help you? Do you really protect this whole town by yourself? Why were the humans shooting at you? Is this your quirk? Do you-“

Danny holds up a hand to halt the assault of questions. “Uhh, I’ll just answer the spirit of your questions. This town has a bad history with ghosts, so even though I keep the menacing ghosts away, I’m still considered one of the bad guys. I don’t know about any pro-heroes, but a few have stopped by and told us they can’t do anything so…”

Deku giggles suddenly. Danny quirks an eyebrow at him. “Hey, man, what gives? I’m spilling my afterlife’s story and you’re laughing at me?”

Deku talks around his giggles. “No, it’s just, you answered the _spirit_ of my questions.” He seems like he wants to continue, but his chuckles overtake him once again.

After Danny has scrubbed his nose at the fact that he’s apparently making ghost puns unconsciously now, and isn’t _that_ just a great thought, he joins Deku in his chuckling. It takes them both a minute to come back down from the high of a pun well made.

All at once, Deku makes a pouty face that Danny thinks is supposed to be an upset frown. “So, you protect this town without help, and people still hate you for it?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say I don’t have any help, but I’m the only one with superpowers around here. So, kinda, yeah.”

“Not even the pros? They couldn’t, I don’t know, find someone who could help?”

Danny shrugs, uncomfortable and not quite sure why Deku is finding all of this so troublesome. “I mean, I think they saw that I had things more or less under control? Not that they ever managed to get as close as you have, but I think they knew that Amity Park was in good hands.” Danny takes serious pride in just how well he’s managed to keep his town safe.

But for some reason this makes Deku frown even harder, and now Danny can’t even call it a pout, because his brows are furrowed and his eyes aren’t round anymore. He mutters something to himself in a language Danny can’t understand – it doesn’t sound like Kwan’s Korean, so maybe it’s Chinese or Japanese? – before pulling out his phone. He looks to Danny, says, “Give me a moment, please?” and proceeds to call someone. Danny, having nothing better than Mr. Lance’s homework to get back to, stays put. If nothing else, Deku is a nice guy to hang around with, and the only one to ever treat Phantom with any sort of respect without knowing Fenton behind him.

He does catch a few words from Deku’s conversation, though, including the name of All Might, the #1 hero and one of Danny’s all-time favorites. The way that Deku says it, though, like it’s a plea or a complaint, brings Danny up short. Either he’s asking someone _for_ All Might, or he’s speaking…

“Deku, dude, are you talking to _All Might_?” Come to think of it, didn’t the news mention that All Might would be teaching at some Japanese Hero High School starting this year? Deku nods and smiles, like he, too, is excited to be talking to the legend, instead of acting like someone who has said legend on speed-dial.

Deku only speaks to All Might – Danny feels like it’s worth reiterating that Deku is speaking to All Might! – for a minute or two, before hanging up and grinning at him brightly again. “Well, I just spoke with All Might, and yes, I am still just excited as the first time I met him, and he has a couple of American heroes that he thinks he can send your way.” Deku crouches, then hops over to Danny’s branch. “We are going to make sure that you don’t have to fight alone anymore, okay?” And Deku holds out a fist.

The sincerity and reassurance in his voice, the confidence with which he’s smiling at Danny, has Danny feeling a little, well, spooked. But he bumps Deku’s fist with his own.

Then, Deku’s grin turns sheepish. “So, uh, I fell out of a plane? And I don’t know how to get back to town. Could you,” he grins bashfully, cheeks red and arms curling around his head, “maybe show me the way back to town? Someone should be arriving at the airport to pick me up soon.”

“…is that someone All Might?”

“…Maybe?”

Danny doesn’t even need to think about it. “I’ll fly us there.” He then proceeds to grab Deku around his waist and haul him up into the sky. It takes a second to find a comfortable speed, because man is Deku heavier than his small figure would belie, but they still make it to the airport in good time.

Waiting on the tarmac is a smaller plane, and standing outside of that plane is the legend himself. Shockingly, his huge, megawatt smile isn’t directed only at his student, but also at Danny.

Danny sets them both down, and lets Deku approach him first. However, instead of moving towards his teacher, Deku steps to the side, and All Might’s huge hand comes speeding down to clap Danny on the shoulder. His megawatt smile, always so impersonal over the television, feels like it’s been tailored just for Danny, and Danny alone.

“Young Phantom, Deku has told me all about your exploits and your heroic actions in the face of difficult odds.” All Might flashed him a thumbs-up, and wow, is he really such a dad? “You’ve done your town and the hero community a real service, and it’s only a matter of time before everyone recognizes that. For now, rest assured that I have some allies that are coming to this town to help ease your burden. Thank you for looking after my student.” He steps back. “Now, Deku, we must be off! Say goodbye to Young Phantom for now.

“I’m sure, once the both of you are grown a bit more, and travelling the world to save it, you’ll see much more of each other.” And with a flourish of his cape, All Might boards the plane.

Deku steps back to Danny’s side, but Danny’s too shell-shocked to really react. He does, eventually, lean over and whisper, “Dude, I am never washing that shoulder again.”

Deku giggles again, unfairly adorable for someone as powerful as him. “I know the feeling.” He pats Danny’s other shoulder, then follow his teacher towards the steps of the plane. “I’ll see you in the world of the pros, Danny Phantom!”

Danny waves. “Same to you, Deku!” And he continues waving until the plane has soared out of sight.

The next morning, as he’s retelling this story to Sam and Tucker before class, they both get an odd look on their face, and share an even stranger glance.

“… and Deku was so nice?! Nobody’s ever complimented Phantom- er, me like that before, and now my chest feels so light? And like, All Might was just as nice?” Danny, who apparently had just been in shock yesterday, is now light-headed with just how nice and supportive and kind Deku had been, and how All Might was just as real as the symbol on the television seemed to be? “What? What’s that look for?”

“Dude, that sure sounds like you’ve got a crush.” Tucker says, folding his arms over his chest.

Danny squawks and denies it, but when the news comes on later, showcasing an attack on I-Island and the Hero Expo that was going on, the same one that Deku had mentioned he was going to, Danny’s heart nearly beats out of his chest.

When Deku calls during lunch the next day, Danny all but sprints out of the lunchroom in relief at hearing the other’s voice, even if he sounds a little bit haggard.

When, a few months later, All Might's career ends on the highest of notes, Izuku and Danny sob together over the phone.

And years down the road, when all of Danny’s secrets are out and Izuku has made it to #1, the same way his mentor had, they meet up for another conversation, about heroes and fate, and what it takes to save someone.


End file.
